China’s Minister of Commerce held a video conference with the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission.
China and the European Union are due to hold talks on the EU’s investigation into Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) after the interim tariffs are announced.
On June 22, China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, was invited to a video conference with European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
According to a brief statement posted on China’s Ministry of Commerce website, the two sides agreed to begin consultations on the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese-made EVs.
On June 12, the European Commission announced in advance the level of temporary anti-subsidy tariffs to be imposed on imports of electric vehicles (BEVs) from China.
According to a statement from the European Commission at the time, temporary anti-subsidy tariffs would be introduced from July 4 if talks with the Chinese authorities do not reach an effective solution.
According to a statement from the European Commission, the final measures should come into effect within four months of the introduction of the interim tariffs.
Responding to the EU statement, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce said “China is very concerned and strongly dissatisfied” and “Chinese industry is deeply disappointed and firmly opposed.”
China urges the EU to immediately correct its wrong practices and properly handle economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation, the spokesman said.
The EU initially imposed a 10% tariff on BEV imports from China, but the newly announced interim tariffs will impose different tax rates on different automakers.
BYD, Geely and SAIC, which were subject to the sample survey and cooperated with the investigation, will be subject to additional tariffs of 17.4%, 20% and 38.1%, respectively.
Other Chinese BEV producers that cooperated with the investigation but were not sampled will pay a weighted average tariff of 21%, with Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) falling into this category.
All other Chinese BEV producers who do not cooperate with the investigation will be subject to a residual tariff of 38.1%.
NIO says commitment to Europe remains unwavering despite protectionism
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